Social trajectories of women in the Software and Information Services Sector (SSI)

Abstract

As part of a broader research, this article aims to understand how work dispositions are configured for female IT workers in the software and computer services sector (SSI) in the intermediate city of Villa María (Province of Córdoba, Argentina), considering their families of origin and their educational and work trajectories. Through the definition of these categories and a qualitative methodological strategy, it was shown that, throughout their social trajectories, women develop skills that allow them to perform dexterously in their jobs. This article proposes reflections based on four analytical nodes: i) women operate as “self-taught” or “self-employed” in their learning; ii) they carry out feminized activities even when they manage to insert themselves in a masculinized sector; iii) the relationship with their parents, colleagues, friends and bosses does not distance women from the sector, but rather allows them to approach technologies and appropriate them; and iv) women move along a path of demands, efforts and difficulties, generating confidence in themselves and in the activity they carry out.